


Finally, Escape!

by SereneSorrow



Series: That Unfinished Test Subject Series [3]
Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-23 18:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21324517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneSorrow/pseuds/SereneSorrow
Summary: Searching for his three missing students Frankenstein finds allies, old and new!Also:M-21 and Muzaka Finally Escape!~I mean, that is pretty obvious given the title... :D
Relationships: M-21/Muzaka (Noblesse), Muzaka/M-21 - implied
Series: That Unfinished Test Subject Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/850413
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	Finally, Escape!

**Author's Note:**

> And I finally got this one done!!! It got really out of hand actually, I wasn't expecting it to be so much longer than the first two, but some other characters wanted to have a say...

The transplant had gone well, and preliminary tests showed that subject W-24's prognosis was excellent, no sign yet that the body would reject the Noble heart. Dr. Crombel sighed as he set aside the report.

_ 'How many subjects has that heart been through again?'_ Dr. Crombel reminded himself to consult the files later.

He still hadn't found a compatible subject for it, and this one was unlikely to be different. At least the boy was young enough to still be growing into his body, he would adapt to the heart well. Perhaps the heart would begin influencing changes in his body more quickly than the older test subjects it had been transplanted into previously. M-24's autopsy had revealed a number of undocumented improvements after all, that he had kept hidden from the doctors that administered his usual checks.

Dr. Crombel resisted the urge to grit his teeth at the thought of his useless underlings. No matter how often he revised the screening process for new hires a few spineless, unobservant or compassionate ones always made it through. He truly needed to find more loyal subordinates to oversee his more menial workers.

At least the other two young subjects were adapting to their modifications well. W-25's cerebral implants had taken and the refined steroid cocktails were already working to increase his muscle speed and finger dexterity. Preliminary practical tests had already shown that subject W-25 had reached the hacking speed and creativity of the top subjects in the 25-Set, suggesting a genius talent even before modification. If W-25's growth continued at this rate then W-25 may well surpass T-25's record setting scores.

As for W-26, the girl's baseline stats had been a close enough match to Mary's own that Dr. Crombel had been able to begin the second version he'd been designing of her own modification. After all, the one difference that was most clear between test subject W-26 and the V-Series that had created Jake and Mary was that the girl's placid nature was a strong contrast to the high-strung emotions and volatile tempers presenting in the majority of subjects in the V-Series. If his calculations were correct the more streamlined sequencing in the genetic modifications would degrade less of the base code and allow the original personality to adapt naturally instead of growing like a wild mutation into short-temper and chaotic rages.

If all went well W-26 would strike as fiercely as Mary but keep a cool head at all times, only acting according to direct orders and within the bounds of the mission. Quite possibly, the girl would be one of his best soldiers yet.

***

Ik-Han and Yuna looked up as the door opened. They couldn't help it, worrying every time that their numbers would be called. Unlike the rest of the people with them in the empty white room that they were kept in day and night, who looked as though they had given up caring about anything at all, the two students had next to no idea why they were here. As far as they were concerned they were being tortured by a group of mad scientists for no reason. Whatever this place was, they had never heard of anything like it happening in real life, it seemed like something out of a movie or video game. Being kidnapped by crazy people with impossible powers and locked in laboratories where their bodies were cut into and they were forced to endure endless tests that they didn't understand, it was all a horrible nightmare.

Between them Shinwoo shifted like he might stand, but they both discreetly grabbed his wrists, they weren't sure what the scientists had done to their friend, but he had been exhausted ever since they'd brought him back with a huge cut stitched up on his chest. Even so weakened Shinwoo had still continued his attempts to get through the door nearly every time it opened, only to be beaten by whatever guards were standing by outside. After the last attempt Yuna had insisted that they stop him from trying again until he had recovered more.

Not that they were in much condition to do anything to stop him, or to escape with him for that matter. There were fresh stitches on Ik-Han's shaved head and his eyes were still adjusting to whatever they had done when they had taken his glasses away. As for Yuna herself, her arms and torso were intermittently numb or on fire and she didn't think she would be able to run anywhere even if they could see a way out of here.

Their worries were unfounded this time it seemed. The scientists were just bringing in someone new. They swept back out of the room without even glancing at the rest of its occupants after they had gotten the man inside. The teenagers did a double take as the door closed. They'd been so preoccupied with the scientists that they hadn't realized, but the man that they had brought in was the same man that had defended the three of them. The grey haired man with the scar cutting through his lips that had attacked Jake and Mary, the red haired man and blue haired woman who had abducted them in the first place.

At first they had thought the man and his larger friend were working with Jake and Mary, but then the larger one had tried to protect them, and this one had fought Jake to try to help his friend. Even though in the end Jake had killed the bigger one and assaulted this one, leaving him unconscious and bleeding horribly. A group of people in strange uniforms had shown up after that and Jake and Mary had dumped him, his dead friend's body, that crazy man that had attacked them just before Jake and Mary had shown up and all three teenagers into the back of a van that drove them to an underground garage. The trip had eventually lead them to this building and finally this room.

Along the way the three of them had all tried to help him, stop some of the bleeding at least as they were moved from one place to another, and sometimes he almost seemed like he might wake up. They'd tried calling to him but the people around them kept yelling at them and attacking them for being loud and had eventually taken the man away somewhere else. Shinwoo, despite his broken jaw and other injuries, had tried to fight them over it. Of the four of them he was the only alpha and he had easily adopted the injured man into their little pack for defending them, and losing his friend in the process. Shinwoo was always so protective of the people he cared about, and someone who tried to protect his friends when he himself couldn't was exactly the sort of person Shinwoo would admire. Yuna could tell that even though the man was a bit older than them Shinwoo probably wouldn't care whether he was an alpha, beta or omega, he was now a part of Shinwoo's 'pack'.

“Ajussi!” Shinwoo called to the man, who startled and looked around at them from where the scientists had left him standing. “You're alright? We thought you were gonna die!”

The look on the man's face was clearly bewilderment at Shinwoo's concern. Based on that look Yuna was immeasurably glad that Shinwoo was feeling sympathetic towards the man, instead of blaming him for their situation now. A lesser alpha, a lesser _man_, might have done so in their present circumstances, instead of bringing the man into their 'pack'. Yuna was glad that Shinwoo had done so though, after what they had seen of this place. She wasn't sure how much he'd had to do with them getting involved in all this in the first place and it was clear to her that he wasn't anywhere near to being in charge of any of this. He was probably at _least_ as much of a victim here as they were, maybe more.

_'How long has he been with these horrible people?'_ She wondered as he kept quiet.

The man walked over to them slowly and slid down the wall a few inches to Ik-Han's right, still watching them like he was worried about their interest in him. “I will recover, it has been decided that testing the progress of my modifications is more important than my disobedience.” He said these words calmly, looking away towards the floor in front of them at the end.

Yuna couldn't help the flash of dull panic at his words._ 'Oh God, are we going to become that inured to our treatment here?'_

The man didn't say anything more and the silence stretched between them until Shinwoo spoke again. “So what's your name anyway Ajussi?”

He didn't even glance at them as he answered. “I don't remember my name, or anything about my life before I was a test subject. They call me M-21.”

“M-21? They keep saying W-25 when they're talking about me...” Ik-Han said quietly.

“I'm W-26...” Yuna said, glancing at Shinwoo. “I think Shinwoo is W-24.”

M-21 flinched at that, turning to stare at Shinwoo with a devastated look in his eyes. Without a word he reached around Ik-Han and lifted up the hem of Shinwoo's plain white T-shirt to reveal the stitches crossing over the large cut in his chest.

“Hey!” Shinwoo batted ineffectually at his hand until M-21 let go. “What was that for?” Shinwoo asked with a disgruntled look at him.

“Everyone in this room are test subjects in the W-Series. Some of the numbers are Sets that are duplicated throughout multiple or successive series'. They gave you M-24's heart.” M-21 said dully.

“W-what?” Shinwoo stammered.

“A _heart_ transplant?” Ik-Han said, shocked.

“They can't just _do_ something like that! There was nothing wrong with Shinwoo's heart! How could they- _why_ would they-” Yuna didn't even know how to go on.

“It's not a human heart. They want to see if he will get the powers that the original owner of the heart possessed. If he does then maybe they can duplicate the results somehow.” M-21 explained.

The three of them stared at him after that, and Yuna remembered the way that Jake transformed, and the way M-21's friend had looked with his purpleish skin.

_ 'Is that going to happen to Shinwoo? Is his skin going to turn purple and scarred like that? Didn't that man have fangs and claws?'_ Yuna was too afraid to ask her questions aloud.

She felt a pang of fear for her friend but she selfishly felt an even greater one for herself. Her arms and torso, the painful way that they felt after just two weeks or so of _experiments_, she was already changing too.

***  
***

Three of his precious students, Han Shinwoo, Woo Ik-Han and Seo Yuna had been missing for three weeks. Frankenstein went over the reports again as he sat in his office in his treasured high school. He had been away at a conference for his beloved school when they had gone missing and _none_ of his employees had thought to inform him of their disappearance on any of their numerous conference calls. As though the safety of his students _wasn't_ his concern. Sometimes these people just didn't seem to understand how _important_ the children were, and it drove him absolutely mad.

Even when he had returned he hadn't been told. The attendance office handled the reports of daily roll call so Frankenstein didn't often see the sheets, and that was a blessing with all of the other paperwork he had to do on a regular basis, and something he had been glad of before now. Since they had all three of them been officially reported missing to the police by their families their absences from school had naturally been marked as excused and therefore not something to bring to the Chairman's attention along with the detention and suspensionable offenses.

It infuriated him, he had built this school for his master, he could never display it proudly to Master Raizel if he didn't guard his students with as much dedication as his master would have done.

Bent over the police reports that he really shouldn't have been in possession of Frankenstein memorized their last known location and considered the route between his school and the three children's homes. There were numerous distractions between the two that often waylaid his students on their ways home, including restaurants, shops, theatres and arcades, any of which the children might have stopped in for a moment or two. He couldn't search them all himself, in fact the police would have already looked around those very locations, he would only be wasting time by checking them.

With a sigh Frankenstein locked the files away in his desk and strolled outside into the evening air. At least the file had listed the name of Shinwoo's favorite arcade, he would start there and see if anything along the way to Shinwoo's home looked suspicious.

He kept to the streets on the way from the school, instead of leaping across rooftops as he so easily could. It would be easier to see something that might draw a teenager's attention into a dangerous place if he was at street level.

The cool breeze that blew through the streets was pleasant, but Frankenstein couldn't enjoy it. Even this late at night there were students out shopping and many of them recognized him, greeting or avoiding him as he passed by. He nodded cordially but didn't stop to engage them in conversation, no matter how much he wanted to send them home, worried that whatever had happened to his three missing students my well happen to more of the children.

The arcade was still open, full of young people from more than one school, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about the place. Frankenstein didn't bother stepping further inside, instead he paused for a moment to mentally map out a few different routes the children might have taken to get home from here, depending on if they stopped at convenience stores or if the boys walked Yuna home first.

They probably had, Frankenstein decided and began walking. Shinwoo was an alpha and they had formed one of those adorable little 'packs' as the young people called it these days. Even in this dire situation Frankenstein felt a moment of humor at the way the humans were comparing their gender roles to wolf pack behavior when the majority of them were entirely unaware of the werewolves that shared their world and lived in _real_ packs. 'Pack' to the humans was really just another word for friends, these groups would break up easily enough as the children went off to colleges and move to separate towns. It was not at all similar to the formal bonds that kept a real pack together for lifetimes, but there was no reason not to let the children have a little innocent fun with the concept. A sense of belonging could mean so much to them at this stage of their lives.

There was a darker patch of street that turned off the busy thoroughfare he'd been traveling so far, and after consulting his mental map Frankenstein decided the children might have used it as a shortcut. It was well worth the look when he discovered a battered trashcan on it's side, shoved tightly into a corner. Hand prints in metal wasn't a common sight and a closer look turned up Shinwoo's backpack pinned out of sight below.

_'The children were here, now where did they go next?'_ Frankenstein wondered as he took a closer look around.

There wasn't much else to go on, garbage and empty space mostly. There were a few scrapes on the ground that may have had nothing to do with the children.

_'So where would they go? Where would someone take them?'_ He asked himself.

He searched the area carefully, taking the time to consider every building, alley and street sign for hints as to where a good place to hide might be. There were any number of routes a vehicle might have taken if the students had been driven away, but they had to be rounded up from somewhere first, and Frankenstein's search was rewarded sooner than he'd thought it would be.

Frankenstein inspected every inch of the room carefully. The building was an old one, abandoned and cordoned off, but it had also clearly seen a recent fight. He'd seen cracks along the walls outside, indicating structural damage, the building would likely collapse soon from the stress.

The Chairman's eyes narrowed at the spattering of blood on the floor across the room and he crossed to it, knelt and inspected the dried droplets. It was Shinwoo's blood, but no one would have to use such strong powers as had destroyed this room just to subdue him, no matter how skilled he was in human martial arts. Frankenstein's eyebrow ticked in annoyance. Those children were under his protection, whoever had taken them would soon find out just who they were dealing with. That no one took children from Ye Ran High School.

Frankenstein took the time to scour every inch of the building, reconstructing the fight from the lingering scents in the air and the evident epicenters of the attacks that had gouged paths through the walls and floors and even collapsed areas of the building. This battle hadn't been between normal humans, no this abandoned place had been the scene of a battle between what had to have been _modified_ humans. Something he hadn't seen personally in centuries.

At a guess Frankenstein would say that there had been three combatants, there was blood splashed over more than one crater, and he could tell that it had come from more than one source. It was odd enough that modified humans would be interested in three high school students, but for them to fight over the three students made even less sense. They couldn't possibly have had anything of value to their abductors.

So the kids had tried to escape, and their captors had fought over it, _someone_ had tried to let the kids go. It looked like one of them had died as well, but the body had been taken along when they'd left leaving only a wide stain of blood that spread out half-under a crumbled wall. Another room was full of both alpha and omega scent, the scent of sex and Frankenstein frowned at the evidence that one of the children's would be protectors had been so harmed for their attempt to help the children Frankenstein himself was supposed to be guarding.

Frankenstein left the building from the precarious jumping off point of the unstable rooftop and crossed the city. The scents of some of the modified humans were similar enough to his own work for him to track even across this heavily populated area. That gave him pause, made him wonder why they were so similar, but he didn't have time to worry about it now. The building he zeroed in on was like any other in the area, and only three stories tall. Entirely disguising what business Frankenstein was certain went on within. With grim determination and a craving for battle that he violently repressed Frankenstein strolled calmly through the front doors.

Whatever this building's front was supposed to be the lower levels were where Frankenstein found what he was looking for. Four floors of laboratories, filled with the most advanced equipment outside of his own lab, and countless researchers with their noses buried so deeply in their findings that they didn't notice the intruder among them until a soldier came barging through a door at the other end of the hall and an alarm sounded.

Knocking the man unconscious was as simple as a flick of the wrist, and Frankenstein hurried to search every room he could find, determining that his three students were nowhere on this floor. He continued down a level and through a dozen teams of soldiers, clearing the second level and heading for the third. The lighting now was entirely flashing red lights, somewhere above he had thrown a soldier through a wall and knocked out some connection to a power source, but what would be disorienting for a human soldier meant very little to him.

The three people standing before him now were equally unaffected.

“So we finally get a challenge around here! Let's see how hard this freak goes down!” A grey skinned man with red hair shouted from the middle of the hallway in front of him. He was grinning madly, excited for the fight.

Behind him to his left stood a pale skinned woman with blue hair, the cold look on her face clearly saying that he would pass no farther. Frankenstein would be intimidated if she weren't so clearly weaker than he was. To the man's right hovered a silver-haired man dressed in loose white clothing unlike the other two, he wasn't even wearing shoes, and he seemed to be weaker than the two beside him and much less confident in the outcome of the fight.

Frankenstein easily caught the redhead's fist and broke his wrist as he tossed the man aside. The man screamed in rage, not pain, as he kicked his way back through the broken wall while the woman stepped forward.

“Stay out of this Mary! I'm going to kill this bastard!” The redhead yelled at the woman.

She scowled in his direction. “This isn't the time for your fun Jake. He's an intruder and Dr. Crombel wants him put down as fast as possible.” Her words angered the man named Jake but he seemed to defer to her just a bit, unwillingly stepping into some kind of paired fighting technique.

For his own part, Frankenstein felt a bit insulted. The woman clearly wasn't a good judge of power if she thought that she and her allies were any match for him. “My my, you don't really think I can be 'put down' do you? I'm certainly not so weak that such a feat could be managed by the likes of you.”

Mary's arms turned black, electric blue veins lighting up as spikes grew and she slashed at him, her speed increasing. It was an interesting effect, further along the lines of his own work, but not as advanced as he had theorised centuries ago. He dodged easily and struck her aside as Jake took on a more monstrous bulk and tried to crush him.

It was laughable how powerful these weaklings perceived themselves to be. Frankenstein felt himself grinning at their paltry attempts to subdue him. They hadn't even scratched his suit, and they still talked as though he would be dead in a matter of minutes.

Despite their distaste for working with each other they made good distractions, and he hadn't yet found a chance to disable either of them for one getting in the way of the other. He also hadn't lost track of the third, but the man was staying clear of Jake and Mary as he fought them, and Frankenstein almost didn't notice when he decided to strike.

Sliding around behind him, through the holes in the wall that Frankenstein had made tossing Jake through it repeatedly, the third man stayed well out of reach of his allies when he struck suddenly. Frankenstein nevertheless caught him easily, his left hand wrapped around the man's throat as weak claws shredded the sleeve over his left elbow and dug through his lapel. Frankenstein was more upset over the damage to his suit than any other attack the trio had made.

The scent that met him now that the man was in such close range gave Frankenstein pause, in fact now that he was thinking about it all three of them were familiar in scent. He had followed these scents to this building, these three had been with his students, had been the ones to take his students. His grip tightened on the man's throat, nearly crushing it as his claws scrabbled at Frankenstein's arm in a reflexive attempt to make him loosen his hold. He didn't kill the man yet though, identifying the scents made Frankenstein realize that this man was an omega, the omega that had been injured possibly trying to help the children.

Injured by Jake, apparently, and yet now he was fighting on the same side as the man that had nearly killed him. He wasn't dressed the same as Jake and Mary, he clearly didn't have the same rank or power, and their teamwork had no place for him but they were still using his distraction to aim more attacks in Frankenstein's direction. Frankenstein had little choice but to toss the man away and dodge, blocking again and again.

To the side the silver-haired man pushed himself to his feet and observed, looking for another opening despite the damage he had taken to gain nothing. Frankenstein could see that he was committed to fighting, and compromised or cowed it made no difference. If he fought for them then he was an enemy. Frankenstein would have to kill him.

It didn't take him much longer to divide Jake and Mary, with the man's temper he readily attempted to take over the fight for himself and Frankenstein allowed just the slightest wisp of Dark Spear to slip free. The dark purple energy lashed out in raging violence and greedily licked out around Jake even as he attacked again, the fool barely registered that he was at risk and Frankenstein grinned uncontrollably as Dark Spear pierced and devoured the purple skinned beast he had become. Mary was negligibly the more difficult target, more agile in the small space and her energy was better suited to directly countering his own, but she was too weak to oppose him without assistance for long. Soon enough the violet energy she had just witnessed consume her partner was eating through her as well, relishing her pain and suffering. The silver-haired man hadn't found another chance to attack, and when Frankenstein turned to him it was clear in his eyes that he knew he didn't stand a chance against Frankenstein alone. He was courageous though, and stood his ground instead of running as Frankenstein approached him. Frankenstein dismissed Dark Spear, he wouldn't need her power to deal with this one.

“Who are you? Why did you come here anyway?” The man asked Franknstein as he ineffectually prepared to defend himself.

“I don't think you're in any position to be demanding answers from me.” Frankenstein answered as he easily deflected another strike of the man's small claws and struck him hard enough to crack the floor beneath the man as he landed.

Frankenstein had him by the throat again, lifting until the man's toes barely brushed the floor below. Frankenstein's other hand he raised to give the man a quick death, when the man struggled to speak once more.

He struggled for the breath for the words he wanted and choked on them. “Please, there are children here. Whatever you're after, if you can help them, or just let them escape-”

His words were cut off as Frankenstein's hand tightened reflexively in his shock._ 'He's trying to help the children again?'_ Obviously the man hadn't known that the children were the reason Frankenstein had come here, he wasn't fighting to keep the children prisoner, likely was only fighting because he had been ordered to by Jake or someone else he had no recourse but to obey.

Frankenstein released him immediately, waiting for the man's coughing to abate before he demanded that the man show him to the children. The man was startled, but relieved and without reluctance lead the way to a side hallway only a little way past where they had just fought.

***

Yuna screamed as the fire crawled through her veins slow as molasses, burning as her heart thumped painfully in her chest. Strapped to the table in another identical lab she could see a blurry reflection of herself in the ceiling, a large sheet of metal bolted above her. They'd started testing her physical reactions to their experiments, and while she couldn't follow most of what the scientists said about her (even when she wasn't delirious from pain, dehydration and exhaustion) she could see that they were excited about the blue glow tracing the veins in her fingers and up the backs of her hands.

Her stomach was churning and she was distantly grateful that she hadn't been given any food in countless hours or she would have been sick, the way it felt like everything inside her was squirming around and rearranging itself as the fire raged inside her.

The pain banked suddenly and she gasped in a harsh breath as her tensed muscles collapsed and her head lolled to the side, the cool metal of the table soothing the fevered skin of her cheek. From the angle of her head Yuna had an unobstructed, if blurred, view of the door to the lab. So she could see it all very clearly as the door was flung open and a blonde man swept into the room in a rage, shoving aside researchers who turned to him or got in his way. She could see a more worse for wear M-21 hovering in the background by the door, eyes locked on her, but her gaze returned to the blonde man. As he came closer she could make him out more clearly but Yuna was certain that her eyes were playing tricks on her now.

_'Is that really the Chairman?'_ Was all that she could think as he approached.

The restraints holding her down ripped right out of the table under the Chairman's hands, and he helped her sit up slowly by taking one of her hands and supporting her back. She tried not to scream at the simple way her elbow and wrist bent, her limbs were shaking and all she could do was stare at the bright blue veins glowing in her arms.

“Yuna? Can you walk? We still need to find Ik-Han and Shinwoo.” The Chairman asked her softly, and of course they couldn't leave without the others. They couldn't, she wouldn't.

“I'll be fine.” She said in a trembling voice as she slid off the table, nearly falling before he caught her. The blood rushed in her ears and her vision darkened momentarily but returned, and she tried to support herself.

“I can help her?” M-21 offered, and the glance the Chairman sent him was too quick for Yuna to catch, but M-21 helped her stumble along after the Chairman as they left the room and kept moving.

The three of them didn't talk as they went, and it looked like M-21 was directing the Chairman in which turns to take, but Yuna was too exhausted to ask either of them what was going on. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know how the Chairman had gotten here or where his strength came from.

Another heavy door secured with locks like a bank vault but all in sterile white met them after the last turn and Yuna watched in wide eyed shock as the Chairman tore the door open as though it was made of paper. She was honestly a little afraid, and pressed closer to M-21 for reassurance.

Inside, after the Chairman had thrown the people in lab coats to the ground, Yuna spotted Ik-Han. She kept her eyes up and away from the people sprawled out on the floor sporting new and growing spots of red, and instead watched as the Chairman carefully turned the chair that Ik-han was seated in, in front of a computer with three screens, more than one keyboard and a huge tower. He pried sensors off of Ik-Han's scalp, face and chest slowly as Ik-Han blinked almost like he wasn't entirely present. Ik-Han himself wound up gazing up at the Chairman blearily, as though unsure what to make of him, but he didn't seem scared after seeing him throw all of those people around. Yuna wondered if he was more used to violence after seeing Shinwoo fight so much more often than she did or if it was something else. She didn't think that it was a sight she wanted to get used to, but she was worried that after all of this she might not be able to avoid it.

With one hand on Ik-Han's shoulder the Chairman lead him over to her and M-21 and then they all escaped the room, moving on to look for Shinwoo next. They had to go down a floor and the elevator ride was quiet and fearful. Yuna still didn't know what to think about the Chairman's incredible show of strength. She could believe it was possible after everything she had seen and had done to her, but why the Chairman of her high school would have such an incredible ability she just didn't understand.

Outside the elevator and down the hall, and [the bright red warning lights flashing on and off were giving her a headache unlike anything she'd ever had before this place. This hallway was different, the rooms had wide open doorways and large windows, none of them with people inside. There was strange equipment, most of it clean white like everything else in this place, but here and there were other colors and a few large crates. Yuna didn't even try to guess what it all might be, she knew that she wouldn't want to know.

M-21 was saying something about a second elevator to a private section of the next floor down when the Chairman froze, and Yuna was afraid of what he might have noticed. M-21 saw him halt and quit speaking, watching the Chairman in a way that Yuna was sure said that he was worried about the Chairman's reaction too.

***

Frankenstein froze, not a sound or a twitch escaping him, not even breathing. He would recognize that sight anywhere, the long white lines adorned with gold at the corners and the heavy golden cross anchored to the lid. There, right in front of him, within that room not thirty feet away from him and resting in that open space as though it belonged here.

_'Master's coffin.'_ Frankenstein thought to himself, a drop of cold sweat suddenly sliding down his temple and the side of his face.

It certainly did _not_ belong here. It _certainly_ did not belong anywhere near this place and these people and Frankenstein could not fathom _how_ it did come to be here. Cold sweat broke out over his entire body as he was flushed with rage at the thought of these people who experimented on children and made monsters of unwilling men daring to put their filthy hands on anything that belonged to his noble master.

Ignorant of the reactions of his two students and his unlikely ally where they stood behind him Frankenstein strode purposefully forward and didn't stop until he was before the coffin that he had thought left safely back in Lukedonia. One hand raised seemingly of its own accord and hovered over the pure surface, unwilling to besmirch it with his dirtied hands. He had been fighting, and even had he not been he would still believe himself unworthy of touching such exquisite detail, but to leave master's coffin here would be intolerable. Still, against his every instinct and all sense of respect for his master, Frankenstein had to be sure that these people hadn't done anything unsavory to the piece. Warily, reverently and promising himself that he wouldn't trespass any longer than absolutely necessary, Frankenstein let his fingertips graze over the edge of the coffin and then he lifted the lid.

The muscles in his arms locked before he had it halfway open and his eyes blew wide in shock at the sight that greeted him within. Master Raizel, sleeping soundly in his coffin as though he was safe here, and Frankenstein had disturbed his rest. The lid almost slipped from his suddenly numb fingers but he had spent a short lifetime learning to keep his composure in the presence of his master even when completely wrong-footed and he caught himself before he even so much as flinched. Even so, the sight of Master Raizel's eyelids slowly drifting open, eyes already locked onto him froze the breath in his lungs for a second time in as many minutes.

“Master Raizel?” Frankenstein whispered breathlessly, eyes beginning to brim with tears at this momentous discovery.

Master Raizel's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of him, and Frankenstein wasn't sure what he was to do, or how he could possibly explain. Before he even had the chance to offer words Master Raizel's right arm rose elegantly to the edge of his coffin and exerted the lightest pressure, and Frankenstein took the hint and opened the lid to it's fullest extent. Master Raizel sat up and Frankenstein stepped back with a bow, awaiting further instructions as his master climbed regally out of the coffin. Out of the corner of his eye Frankenstein saw his master scanning the space around them, and from long years of familiarity he found that he recognized the confusion on his master's face, as well as the concern for the three injured humans that were still standing outside and watching them warily.

“Master, I was not expecting to find you here.” Frankenstein began in explanation, licking his lips worriedly. “This place seems to house many experiments to increase human power, I came here to rescue three children that were taken and in searching for the third I saw your coffin resting here.” Glancing up to see Master Raizel gazing patiently at him Frankenstein continued. “I did not mean to disturb your rest, I was unaware that you were inside, I only meant to be sure that your coffin had not been tampered with before I removed it from this vile place to somewhere safer.” Even though he had meant no disrespect Frankenstein still feared upsetting his master.

“Frankenstein.” He heard his master speak softly, and then again. “The children.”

Looking up again Frankenstein realized his mistake, of course his master would wish them to protect the innocent children above all, anything he may have done wrong could be addressed after the children were safe. Frankenstein straitened up and nodded with an “of course Master,” and went to close the coffin. He would have to come back for it, he was sure that it would not fit easily in the small elevators that they had traveled through so he would need to find what entrance it had been delivered by or make an exit in the floors above, either way it would be work unfit for Master Raizel to be forced to witness.

***

The stranger, the new stranger that the man Yuna had called 'Chairman' was now addressing as 'Master', walked with them now. The man was dressed quite oddly, in an old fashioned black suit with a yellow vest and a white cravat at his neck. He was quiet and difficult to read but M-21 did not get the sense that he was threatening to any of them and so he continued directing the 'Chairman' to the elevator and down. He thought that maybe the 'Master' was a bit confused about something as the elevator moved down one last level but he didn't know why he would be, then again the man had been sleeping in a coffin for some reason so there probably wasn't much about the man that M-21 would understand.

The coffin, plain white and gold with a large cross, M-21 recognized as the one that he and his late partner M-24 had been sent to find on their most recent mission and he wondered if the man had been sleeping inside of it when they had found it. He didn't know anything about why their bosses would be interested in someone's coffin bed, as it didn't seem like this man worked for the Union so there was yet more reason to believe that he had been inside. Chillingly M-21 realized that perhaps it was the man inside the coffin that the Union had been searching for.

This last level was where the deepest tissue work was done, untyped transplants and grafts and full body alterations. Stabilization of a foreign species' organ like the vampire heart that Shinwoo was now cursed with required at least some time in one of the tanks. The tanks were large cylinders made of Transparent Aluminum that contained a carefully mixed formula that he didn't know the details of in which the subject was suspended with wires and tubes for feeding and oxygen input and output.

Sure enough one of the many tanks, most currently empty, held the redheaded boy that they were looking for. M-21 didn't know anything about working the control panel connected to the tank but the 'Chairman' seemed to figure it out soon enough, fingers flying over the controls as lights flashed and small tones sounded. Ik-Han was watching with a greedy fascination that M-21 didn't think he had possessed before all of the experiments and his upgrades. M-21 let his eyes drift around the dark room, taking in the shadows between the eerily glowing tanks that painted sections of the room in alien green and stark blue.

One of the further tanks caught his eye, he wasn't sure what it was about the figure inside that seemed so familiar but there was a pang in his heart at the sight of the man with long grey hair floating limply in that faraway tank, abandoned to shadows and the Union's mercy. Slowly, M-21 slipped Yuna's arm off his shoulders, and shook his head at her questioning look before he drifted away from the group to approach the tank that he couldn't seem to push from his mind. It didn't grant him any further clarity, seeing the figure up close, though his eyes roamed over the countless scars crossing each other over his arms and legs and the slashes on his chest and even his cheek. No, the scars didn't seem to be what was familiar, but he still had no idea what it was that drew him here. Something about this body, this form, was affecting him and it disturbed him that he couldn't figure out what it was.

M-21 was startled out of his appraisal when the 'Master' stepped up beside him, almost shoulder to shoulder, and M-21 couldn't help starting slightly at his sudden appearance. M-21 hadn't even heard him approach and with his enhanced senses that mean that this man was something far beyond himself. He watched the 'Master' for a moment, studying his face, but the man seemed only to be inspecting the figure inside the tank just as M-21 had been doing so M-21 turned back to his observations. His eyes flicked up and down as he took in the figure again from head to toe, feeling more and more certain that he had some memory of this man but he was completely unable to recall a name or any shred of conversation exchanged between them.

“Muzaka.” Beside him the other man spoke a strange word that M-21 wondered at, still staring up at the man in the tank. M-21 was startled by the fact that he had spoken and had twitched at the light sound of his voice, glancing between the man beside him and the tank again and again.

Suddenly appearing beside them the 'Chairman' took in the sight of the tank they were studying and M-21 saw _his_ eyes widen in surprise as well as he repeated his master's word. “Muzaka.”

M-21 backed away as the 'Chairman' stepped up to the control panel for this tank, an older system than most of the tanks around them and M-21 realized that the analog controls were decades out of date. He wondered idly how long this particular test subject had been in this suspended state, and why the system containing him hadn't been upgraded. Before long the 'Chairman' had figured out these controls as well and the formula began draining away as tubes detached. Around the connections to the man's body there was a thin film of crusted purple fluid from the formula, something that M-21 had never seen before and he realized that the man must have been inside the tank for _years_, maybe decades even though that seemed impossible.

While he was puzzling over the why of that the man's eyes snapped open and plain white stared out at them. Suddenly M-21 heard a crash and felt the floor beneath his back, realizing belatedly that somehow he had been thrown to the floor and that the man had smashed right through the tank and crashed into their midst. The 'Chairman' and his master had stepped clear of the man and the spray of clear shards and stood observing the man who's mouth opened over large fangs when he let out an ear-splitting roar. Still dripping with purple fluids and now bristling with the beginnings of a transformation as fur began slowly crawling up his arms the man seemed to sniff the air. Strangely enough his gaze swung down to M-21 before diverting as his entire body shifted to face the master.

Another roar filled the room, the man's head thrown back with the expression of animal fury, and then the man was leaping for the 'Master' with razor sharp claws outstretched. M-21 scrambled back out of the shards and away from the fight, his eyes wide as the 'Master' was able to dodge and block the enraged test subject's attacks. Half of it all moved faster than M-21 could track, and he found himself backing up warily toward the children, knowing that he was outclassed and would easily be killed if those claws were turned on his own flesh.

He pushed the children back toward the elevator, the only way out that he knew how to access, as every tank along one wall was shredded open in shattering aluminum and a flood of fluids that slicked the floor in a wide pool that approached them from the other side of the wide open room. M-21 wasn't sure which of the combatants had cast that strike, or the one that blew a hole straight up through three floors of the building that sent four file cabinets and an MRI machine tumbling down into the room. The light and sound of the fight just made it all the more clear how weak he was in comparison to these titans and M-21 pulled the three children close to him, each of them more than happy to stick close. Shinwoo was watching wide eyed, curious and thrilled to observe the fight but sensible enough at least to stay with the safety of his small pack. Yuna and Ik-Han however huddled close and clung to him and each other, the one flinching from the sounds and the other from the lights against their sensitive new senses.

“Get them out of here!” The 'Chairman' suddenly shouted at him, their eyes locking over the distance and M-21 nodded, agreed that the children shouldn't be anywhere near here.

Taking care to avoid the many obstacles that had tumbled between them and the elevator M-21 lead the way, the children only too happy to follow. Before they could reach the elevator doors their way was blocked by a chunk of wall and exposed rebar crashing into their midst and M-21 turned quickly to keep himself between the children and the sudden appearance of the grey-haired test subject. M-21 flinched back as the man loomed over him, breathing hard and growling while M-21 held his ground. Before he knew it M-21's left arm was held in a vice-like grip as he was pulled toward the man, who leaned close and inhaled his scent. Confused and knowing that any attack he could try would only get him killed, M-21 stayed still and waited for the man's next move, noticing over his shoulder that the 'Chairman' and his master had approached from behind the man and were watching them. Warily, on the part of the 'Chairman', though his master still seemed mostly indifferent to everything.

Suddenly finding himself thrust away and being caught by the children before he could hit the ground, M-21 stared up in bewilderment as the man shook his head violently and threw his head back in another immense roar. Tense, M-21 climbed to his feet but unexpectedly the man's transformation receded and he turned to face the master with a look of confusion and exhaustion on his face.

“Raizel?” The man asked in shock, head swinging around to take in his surroundings, clearly puzzled about where he was.

“Muzaka.” Was the only answer the stoic man gave and M-21 caught the 'Chairman' sighing in apparent relief.

“If you've calmed down, perhaps we can continue with our exit?” The 'Chairman' asked this 'Muzaka' person, who's eyes darted up and down taking in the blonde man's unsettled appearance and damaged clothing before nodding in vague agreement.

M-21 didn't know if he was reading the 'Master' right, but he thought that maybe the man was happy as they regrouped and moved the ruble away from the elevator to make their escape.

***  
***

They'd never been to the Chairman's house before, and another surprise after the man's incredible strength was that he had some kind of mad science lab under his house. Yuna, Ik-Han and Shinwoo were nervous as soon as they saw how clean white it was, how similar to the place they had just escaped, but so far the Chairman had only scanned them and looked at the images he'd taken. He'd even pointed things out to them, most of which only Ik-Han understood at all, but they all felt better knowing what he was doing. He had also looked over the scarred man that had been fighting him earlier, after they had found Shinwoo, and seeing the angry and tense man walk safely away and get back in the elevator on his own had helped to reassure them before the Chairman had turned to them.

Yuna sat nervously on the table with her arms wrapped loosely around herself. It was a little cold in the big room even with all of the equipment and people and her arms still hurt terribly. The Chairman wanted to give her something liquid that he'd just mixed together in front of them that he said would help ease the pain she was experiencing but she wasn't sure about taking it, it was the same almost glowing blue color that she could still faintly see threading through the skin of her fingertips. On either side of her Shinwoo and Ik-Han were sticking close, and Shinwoo was scowling at the drink, but he didn't say anything as she apprehensively took the glass and stared down into it.

Glancing up she noticed that M-21 seemed to be keeping his distance from them and wondered if he was feeling more nervous than they were since he didn't know who the Chairman was. She wanted to help him feel safer too so she decided to trust the Chairman and drank the mixture, not liking the acidic taste but slowly drinking it all like the Chairman had instructed. When she was done Shinwoo and Ik-Han were watching her, as if waiting for something terrible to happen, but nothing did. As the Chairman took the glass out of her hands she noticed that the blue had disappeared from her fingertips and the pain was just slowly slipping away.

Now done with the three of them, the Chairman turned to M-21 and Yuna tried to reassure him with a few looks and as much of a smile as she could manage under the circumstances. It wasn't very big but M-21, in his usual doubtful acceptance of their kindness, nodded at her briefly before submitting to the Chairman's instructions and climbing onto one of the tables to be scanned. When the Chairman had looked at Shinwoo they had told him about the heart transplant and what M-21 had known about it, M-21 volunteering even more information than they had known about it yet themselves, and the Chairman had suggested that M-21 had also had some kind of transplant. He had said that the modifications that he had apparently seen at an earlier time were very similar to something else he had seen before and that it wasn't likely the result of base gene manipulation and grafts like what Yuna had been through.

They all watched patiently as the Chairman worked at the controls of the machine scanning M-21, and M-21 slid off of the table and came to stand with them so that they all waited together as he organized the results. Taking comfort in their proximity they all felt a little safer, and ready to hear what news the Chairman had for them, looking back to him when he adjusted his glasses absentmindedly. The Chairman was frowning down at the screen, and they all felt the nervous tension increase as they waited for him to announce whatever conclusions he had reached, suddenly less sure of their safety.

“You have had a heart transplant as well, though it was very long ago, long enough that your body's adaptation to the heart has significantly extended your lifespan.” Was the Chairman's eventual explanation when he turned to look at them, taking in how closely they were standing together with M-21. One of his eyebrows lifted briefly but he made no comment on it.

“I would say that the majority of the changes to your physiology have been subtle, and primarily focused on the necessary adjustments you would need to achieve that longevity, therefore battle modifications like the transformation I saw of your hands would only start to develop now that your body has stabilized. After all, those adaptations would take time to develop, and your body made it a priority to ensure that you would have that time first before expending energy on something that would have been useless to you if you were stuck with a human's lifespan.” He went on to say, leading M-21 to stare down at his hands and flex his fingers loosely.

“In fact I believe can make a closer identification of the heart with a simple blood test, to confirm my theory of what kind of heart it is, but perhaps that should wait until later. You are all probably tired and we should get you settled in upstairs.” The Chairman's words were a relief, they all wanted to get out of this lab and into a more normal place even if it wasn't a familiar one, so they agreed quickly and followed him to the elevator. Yuna made sure that M-21 stuck close to them until they were inside, he seemed to be thinking about something instead of paying attention and she was a little worried about him.

***

Looking around the house was every bit as bewildering as the sight of the human's city had been when they had exited that laboratory. Muzaka was still trying to shake his mind clear of the fog that centuries of sedatives had left him in and his vision was still a bit grey around the edges, as though nothing was quite real. It almost looked like a dream, but his ears and nose were bombarded with too many sounds and scents for him to be asleep still. Swallowing hard against his still dehydrated throat and the grating sensation it elicited due to his overuse of his voice earlier before he regained his sense, Muzaka cast his gaze over the room again. He could recognize a table and chairs easily of course, and decorative pieces were never really something he'd paid attention to when visiting Raizel's home in Lukedonia, but there were several things that seemed to have a function that was simply beyond his knowledge.

This home belonged to Frankenstein apparently, as well as the laboratory in the basement that Raizel's servant had used to determine the state of their health after their time in that other laboratory. Muzaka hadn't liked being there and had left first, breathing easier as soon as he had escaped that strange ascension device and could see windows and doors through which he could escape again. Shaking off the lingering feeling of being observed Muzaka strode over to one of the sofas and sat down heavily, determined to regain some feeling of himself. Nothing really felt natural, all around him all these unfamiliar changes and the knowledge that strangers had been doing things to him that he couldn't remember made him feel unbalanced. It was too much to process with his mind in the state it was just now.

Those doors opened again, Frankenstein leading the three weary children down a hallway away from the room he was in and saying something about them getting some rest. Muzaka's eyes tracked Raizel as he drifted slowly over to an uncovered window and gazed outside just like he would if he was back in his home in Lukedonia. A scuff dragged his attention back to the younger man that he had heard referred to as 'M-21' as the man neared the sofa across from him and sat down, not quite looking at him though clearly aware of and tracking his presence.

M-21 shifted nervously before he settled, eyes still not rising to look at him and Muzaka felt vaguely irritated at the lack of confidence as well as confused by the sense of familiarity that he had of the man. Something about this person stirred some kind of memory but he couldn't figure out what any of it meant. The man was certainly too young to be someone he had known before those Union people had made him their prisoner, but he remembered nothing clearly of his time in their clutches. M-21 had been their prisoner as well, had they perhaps at one point been housed together then that could explain this sense, except for the fact that Muzaka was certain he would have attempted to escape and destroy those people if he was ever conscious enough to do so.

Frustrated, Muzaka kicked the low table in front of him, making it skid a few inches across the floor. Startled, M-21's eyes darted up to look at him as he stood up and made his way around the table toward the other man. Muzaka growled down at the sight of the younger man looking up at him warily and reached out for him, dragging him up by one arm. He knew that he wasn't usually this rough with anyone, but all of his rage and frustration at what he couldn't remember of the _centuries_ that had passed were driving his emotions and it was difficult to restrain himself. Dragging M-21 closer to him he breathed in his scent and tried to think past the fog, to make some kind of connection in his mind or in his instincts to this man.

That same unnamed familiarity greeted him, but refused to clarify itself. Digging deeper however, brought something else to his attention. The man was clearly a human, and yet there was a trace within his scent of a werewolf. Enough that his instincts told him that the man was pack, and one of his to protect. A companion that he could trust at his back. Startled, Muzaka released the man, who stared at him in clear confusion but didn't move away as a threatened human would have. Kindred, M-21 must sense their strange connection too, but if he had any knowledge as to why they felt this way he wasn't volunteering it. Muzaka's instincts told him that the younger man didn't know any better than he did what was going on, but now that they were free of that Union place Muzaka was determined to find out why he was drawn to, calmed and reassured by the human's scent.

With a scoff Muzaka glanced away from the younger man, feeling just a bit guilty at the rough treatment and honestly a little embarrassed. Turning he could see that Raizel had left the window and was staring at him and he could feel the chastisement in his old friend's gaze. Chagrined, Muzaka shoved his hands into the pockets of the borrowed pants that Frankenstein had given him and stepped back from M-21 with a nod at the still silent young man. M-21's gaze drifted over him and he seemed to unconsciously recognize the apology, nodding and stepping back once himself before taking a seat on the sofa again. Before Muzaka could verbalize the apology, not that many words were coming to mind, Frankenstein reappeared from the hallway with a strained smile on his face.

“Well, the children are settled, thankfully they should recover though there isn't much I can do but to stabilize their modifications. It would be dangerous to attempt any kind of reversal, and Shinwoo is unlikely to survive a second heart transplant, it is likely the fact that the heart came from a noble that is the only reason he survived the first one.” Frankenstien said, probably only meaning to inform his master, or perhaps to reassure M-21 who Muzaka now saw had been paying great attention to the man's words.

Frankenstein had continued striding into the room they had gathered in and when his eyes landed on the askew table one eyebrow twitched. Muzaka couldn't help grinning at the man's annoyance and flopping down on the sofa next to M-21. He was more careful in his movements than he would have liked to be but he remembered teasing Frankenstein as being rather fun so he he couldn't help making the attempt. Frankenstein sighed and moved to straiten out the table, suddenly giving a small start and looking to his master who had taken a seat in the chair at the table's end.

“Master, I could get you some tea, is there anything else that you need?” Frankenstein asked a bit breathlessly as he rushed to his master's side and redirected his attention.

Raizel's customary silence reigned and Frankenstein rushed off to make the tea, leaving the three men as silent companions in the strange new environment of Frankenstein's home. It was pleasant, company and safety and freedom, and from a prison that he did not even remember Muzaka had finally escaped.

**Author's Note:**

> So Finally! Right?  
Ack, can't believe how long this took...  
and the story isn't over yet!!! I don't know when I'll get to the next part though... -.-  
Oh, right, and for the tanks people were floating in I used 'transparent aluminum' from Start Trek IV. :D


End file.
